


Medicine

by snakebiteheart



Category: The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Concerned Ezekiel, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Illnesses, Not Beta Read, non-established relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24786919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakebiteheart/pseuds/snakebiteheart
Summary: Violet is sick with a winter bug, but there's no such thing as a day off at the end of the world. Ezekiel has had enough of how she's handling it and takes the matter into his own hands.
Relationships: Ezekiel (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 4





	Medicine

**Author's Note:**

> I have a whole bunch of one-shots that I wrote as inspiration for my multi-chapter fic with these two, and this is just one of my favs. It is also the first fic I've published in about 4 years, but there's such a lack of Ezekiel content, I couldn't wait any longer to get my own out there. So, enjoy! x

Despite Violet’s best attempts to combat the winter bug sweeping through the Kingdom, it hit her out of nowhere. The night before a standard ‘interview’ with a handful of new arrivals, she’d gone to bed with a slight scratching in her throat and when she woke up the next morning, she was swallowing razorblades and coughing them right back up. Her head pounded steadily, courtesy of the congestion in her sinuses, and by the the time she hauled her short ass over to the theater, she was exhausted all over again. But there was no such thing as a day off at the end of world.

Ezekiel and Jerry sat, legs dangling off the edge of the stage as they waited for her. They were deep in an animated discussion about an old movie, and despite her sour mood, a smile tugged at her lips, just as it always did whenever she saw the King. Nothing about them in that moment screamed majesty or soldier, not even with the tiger licking her paws beneath their boots.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” Violet said thickly.

“Yo! You sound awful, dude,” Jerry leaned forward, fist outstretched. She nudged it with her own knuckles then bent to offer her palm to Shiva.

“I _feel_ awful.”

“You’re ill?” Ezekiel’s brows were creased into a frown as he looked down at her.

“Just a little.” A day in bed would be a day wasted. Especially when she was needed here _now._ “I can handle it, honestly.”

“I don’t think –”

“With all due respect Your Majesty, I could be bleeding out and I would still get on that stage. Nothing you say is going to make me leave.” Violet breathed in slowly through her mouth so not to aggravate the fiery tickle at the back of her throat. “What if this meeting takes a turn for the worst?”

Ezekiel looked to Jerry for back up, but his right-hand was nodding his approval. thumping his fist twice against his chest. “Respect to that, sister.”

“Jerry,” Ezekiel sighed. “Fine. Stay if you must, but _only_ for this engagement. Your well-being is important, Violet. You’re to put yourself first, and that _is_ an order.”

A cough threatened in her chest. Scared to talk in case it burst from her, Violet smiled and gave a small bow instead, to which Ezekiel merely shook his head. As if every step didn’t seem to kick up dust inside her lungs, and the stage lights weren’t pushing her headache towards a full-blown migraine, she climbed the stairs stiffly.

It was going to be a _long_ day.

\--

That one long day turned into two, and on the third day, when Violet ignored Ezekiel once again and shuffled to her post with a new array of flimsy excuses, he decided that enough was enough, and took matters into his own hands.

“I _know_ you haven’t been resting properly - why do you think you haven’t gotten any better? I saw you yesterday afternoon in the gardens, and Anita said you helped her with the night-time feed at the stables,” Ezekiel spoke quickly as he marched her to the second floor of the theater, slipping out of the royal charade and back into his own voice. “The stables, Violet! In your condition!”

“I’m not pregnant,” she rolled her eyes, but even that caused discomfort. “I’m just a _little bit_ under the weather, it’s not –”

“Nope, no more of that.” Ezekiel opened a large wooden door with the word ‘OFFICE’ stamped on the front. It was a large space, with double doors along the adjacent wall that opened out onto the balcony. Ezekiel had renovated into a relaxed, cosy study. There was a large mahogany desk to the left, a bookshelf to the right, and in between was two worn armchairs, and two long couches positioned around a wooden coffee table. A deck of playing cards spilled out onto the scratched surface, and a thick, cover-less book sat at the far end. “This is my… work-space, so to say. I come here to just breathe sometimes, y’know, get a bit of peace and quiet. Today, its purpose is rest and recovery. C’mon, go lie down.”

Far too weak to protest, Violet eased down onto the couch and immediately melted into the cushions. “Okay… if you’d told me there was a couch _this_ comfortable up here, I would’ve kicked back days ago.”

“Well, now you know.” Ezekiel threw a blanket onto her lap, and her heart fluttered. Intrigued by the underlying implication of his words, she caught his eye, and the meaningful glint in their depths. Shock sent her into an unexpected coughing fit and she apologised breathlessly, wiping at her streaming eyes.

“Apologise to yourself, not me. Stay there, I’m gonna be right back, okay?” Ezekiel dipped out of the room before she could say another word.

When he returned, she was lying on her side, stretched out along the length of the sofa, and using the small, square cushions as pillows. She was warm enough that her muscles were relaxing, and her new position allowed her to draw in a clearer breath through one side of her nose. It was at that point she’d realised everything around her smelt distinctly like Ezekiel, which did wonders to soothe her further.

“You look comfortable,” his voice was soft, smooth.

Violet nodded, reluctant to open her heavy, itchy eyelids, but when his weight sank onto the couch next to her stomach, she couldn’t resist. A warm smile awaited her, one that she immediately mirrored. Gently, he pressed a palm to her forehead, checking her temperature. Violet relaxed further beneath his touch, and mused with the idea of him staying right where he was, brushing her hair back, holding her hand, wrapping her snugly in the circle of his arms…

“I got you some of this,” Ezekiel was, unfortunately, not doing any of those things. Instead, he was holding a rather familiar looking bottle and a tiny little spoon. “The date’s a bit off, but Dana reckons it still does the trick. It has yet to make anyone’s symptoms worse, anyway. Oh, and I also brought someone up here to make sure you stay put.”

Violet’s frown melted into a grin when she twisted to see a shiny flash of orange and black by the door.

“Thank you,” she pushed herself up onto one elbow and held her hand out for the cough syrup. “My cat used to sleep right up at my chest when I was sick. It was the only time the dogs knew to stay off the bed.”

“How many dogs did you own?”

“Just two. A little dauschund called Pixie and a sweet, old pit-bull called Clooney.” A throb of emotion brought a prickle of unexpected tears to Violet’s dark grey eyes.

“And your cat?”

“Her name was Solo,” she smiled sadly, then spooned up a mouthful of the cough syrup. It tasted worse than she ever remembered it being, and she thrust the bottle back into Ezekiel’s hands. “ _Eurgh_ , that’s vile.”

“My apologies,” Ezekiel said lightly. “But if it helps, it helps. Now, I have to leave for a few hours, but I’ll be back as soon as I’m done. Shiva’s going to stay right here – I assumed you wouldn’t mind the company.”

“You assumed correctly.” Violet lay back down and allowed her body to relax once more. “Did you have any pets Before?”

“Oh, no, my job was enough!” he laughed and patted her arm. “I’ll tell you all about it later. For now, I just want you to rest. Medicine is on the table, and there’s a bottle of water there too. I won’t be long, I promise.”

“Thank you, Ezekiel.” Feeling emotional and henceforth, irrationally brave, she reached out from beneath the blanket and grasped his hand. “Even though you’re making me drink poison, this is all really kind of you.”

“A King looks after his people. And friends make sure friends don’t burn themselves out in the name of service.” Ezekiel smiled down at her, squeezed her fingers, and then got to his feet. “Rest easy, Violet.”

Shiva paced restlessly in front of the door after he left, searching for a way out to join him. When that proved fruitless, she resigned herself and padded over to join Violet. The tiger climbed up onto the opposite sofa, paws hooking over the arm, and rested her head atop them with a heavy huff of a sigh.

Violet laughed weakly, and sniffed hard, letting her eyes flutter closed.

“I feel you, girl. I feel you.”


End file.
